City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, good evening everyone. Sorry we're getting started a little bit late. Uh it's currently 5:11 p.m. I want to welcome everybody to this regular called meeting of the Temple City Council. Uh first off is we are going to have the invocation led by Troy and Preston Meers with maybe the help of mom. I don't know. We'll see. and the pledge of allegiance u to the US and to the state flag um also by Troy and Preston Meyers. So uh please rise. I said pledge both times a prayer and pledge.

Dear dear God, thank you for this day. Thank you for all the food, water, and environments that we have for Temple. Please keep Temple nice and strong. I know that um everybody working here is going to make it good and strong and stay strong because America is the state. It's the state of niceness and it's like one of the only states that like is nice for people to stay. That's why a lot of people move here and so cuz they know where the we are friendly. Amen.

Amen. All right. Now I pledge algiance to the flag. I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, Troy. Now let's do the flag. flag.

Honor the Texas flag. I pledge algiance to thee, one state under God, one and indivisible. Don't Mayor, we don't normally do the Texas flag as you know, but Mayor Pro Tim Walker asked that we uh that we give uh add this to the agenda, especially in honor of the um Texas Independence Day. And uh Jana suggested that uh Troy and Preston get a chance to do the prayer and pledge because they are proud seventh generation Texans. Also, also Council Member Kirkindall, um his family was one of the first 300 families with Stephen F. Austin. So, he is eighth generation Texan. So, we are proud to have to honor you today as well, Carl.

Thank you.

And just real quickly on a more somber note, Council Member Pilington is not with us tonight. Um he lost his father Tuesday and um after a long illness. So, uh, they're doing the visitation tonight and funeral tomorrow for for, uh, Mike's dad who, um, was, I think they're long time. They may have, uh, he may have been a lifelong temple, you know, bel you guys keep keep Mike, um, in your prayers. Okie do. Uh, next item is public comments. We are going to do things a little bit different tonight since we have such a large crowd. We are going to do uh public com our regular public comments now. Um except for item H. We're going to pull item H from the consent agenda. Um we're going to uh do all the consent, we're going to pull item H. So anyone that is here to speak tonight on anything other than item H, this will be your time for public comments. Okay? Otherwise, we're going to do all the public comments at the end of the meeting if that makes sense. Okay. So, um is there anybody here tonight before we um before we actually vote on the uh well, and we'll get to the consent shortly, but is there anybody here that wants to speak on any item on the agenda other than item H? Yes, sir.

Sammons, come on up. And I I assume you signed up here on my Yes, I did.

All right. My name is Larry Quick. I'm a resident and I'm also one of the members of the Salmon's Community Center and today is an anniversary day. I don't know if you knew it or not. Most anniversaries are really fun. This one isn't. Uh Sammons has been closed for one year as of today. And I'd like to make a couple comments and I understand what you're going through. 25 of my years of working were as a facilities manager. I was director of operations and facilities management for a very large notfor-profit uh institution. So I've done probably 25 of the projects of about the size of salmons, but I've also done projects that are 50 and $60 million. So I I come from a a background of trying to understand if I can be helpful, trying to understand why it's taking so long. Uh in my experience when you go into a project like a destroyed salmon's building, it probably takes three months to get somebody to come in and write a list of everything that's wrong and put a price tag on it. And if that number starts to approach what a rebuild takes, then you bring somebody else in. So that might take another two months, but within six months, you should have the day in front of you. And then you just have the challenges of how in the world do I pay for it? How do we get this thing done? So I understand where you're coming from, and I'm hoping that now that we've passed this one nasty anniversary, pretty soon you'll be able to share with us what's going to really happen. Thanks. You bet. And I can do that now.

Oh, great. Um, so it has been determined that that building is not salvageable. So the uh the plan will be to um to demo that building and then ultimately uh probably in November uh we are we are considering putting together a bond package then take it to the voters um to see if the voters will uh will uh will vote to allow for a uh tax increase for that building and others. there's it it will we'll end up it won't be a bond issue uh or a bond election just for one building.

You know, if you're going to do that, you want to, you know, figure out what your needs are, but ultimately that building um that building is noninhabitable, right? And so it will come down and then now we're going to have to figure out all the pieces and parts of putting together a bond election and what might be. So, uh, in, uh, in in city years, right, we are moving as quickly as we can, but it will still be it will still be a bit. Thank you very much. That's the That's the plan. And I believe there'll be some sort of public notice around that, a letter or something soon, but that's the plan. Thank you very much. You're welcome. I'm here on item N.

Um, item N on the consent agenda. Um, yes, you may speak.

Thank you, council members. My name is Frank Shimino. I have never met before you guys. I've been practicing here for over 20 years. I live in Temple. Uh, we love it here. Uh, I was contacted by Mr. Sales who has a building uh of 53 going on towards um Zazakville. And the reason why I'm here is I'm I'm going to try to urge the city council to um kind of table the this item and um open it up for discussion so that um it's not sumearily voted uh where the deanexation petition is simply denied. Uh and I'd like to present a couple of things if that's okay. I know I've got three minutes. I'm going to go real fast. I I put out a um uh a packet for you guys. Uh that packet essentially has a uh affidavit from Mr. Sales and his contractor. The issue that we have here is essentially that uh uh in 2024 he went by the city or his contractor went by the city to obtain a permit and he was told by the permitting offices that he didn't need a permit because the building is or the land is situated outside of Temple. So they essentially began building. They began doing what they needed to do. But a year and a half later, they got a stop work order. In the packet, what you will see is you will see uh table of contents basically talking about what uh and the reason why I put affidavit is because these this is a judicial declaration. Uh it holds a lot more water than somebody coming in and saying this is what happened. Uh and it explains essentially Mr. Sales having this dream of opening up this beautiful event center. He saved his money. He had this life savings. he put it together and he and his brother were just there trying to get this done so he can bring in the community have events and all these type of things. Uh he's in the building uh construction now for the past 20 years or so. So he knows how things have to get built and his contractor also who built the the structure. So, what's been done on the building is there's been um pouring the concrete. There's been the structure

itself. In the packet itself, I've got photos so you can kind of see that the building is more than 90% complete. When he received the stop order, uh it basically shut everything down. So, he's out about a half million just in the construction. In the revenue that he could have made, he's out another 300 some thousand dollars. Um, further in the packet, I'd like to just show you that there's um other things that he's done in terms of following all the um um the laws that he needed to follow. Essentially, he's um gotten his septic. He's gotten through the licensing regulations on the different barriers. uh and he's he's filed a petition for deanexation just basically saying if you deanex him he can kind of concede or proceed and do what he needs to do to kind of finish as was given to him from the beginning in terms of um the fact that he wasn't in the city itself. Uh so he's he's asking that you consider the annex de the annexation for that purpose. I do have a case here that I I did some some quick research uh on a case called PDT holdings in in Philips Thompson Homes which is a case out of Dallas which essentially states that there's there's two things here. There's a um reliance doctrine and besides the Reliance doctrine there's an estoppel doctrine. Basically when when somebody makes their representation from a person of authority that has uh there isn't any question as to the person's authority or person's uh uh integrity or the person's ability to uh give the information and when a person relies on it they can't later on say well sorry now you're going to have to go through different hoops and bounds and whatnot to um proceed differently. So that's one thing and I have that in the packet. So what I I'd like if possible that for you guys to just hold off in denying the dean annexation and just give it some more discussion in a nutshell.

Miss Davis, would you like to address We discussed some of that during workshop today.

A few thoughts going through my mind, but um I don't think that the document of detrimental reliance applies here. It was a clerk. Um, and a clerk can't tell a person that they either don't or do live inside the city of It was a It was a a clerk that was um hired in the permitting department. And it was it would have been like I've I've done different construction jobs. I'm sorry. This isn't the place for a debate. I mean, honestly, you shouldn't even be here addressing council on an item that you're representing another person on. um really it's it's open for um so Kathy to um

to to do this well and to do it correctly and to do it fairly um I know that uh we've already had one of our yes city attorneys meet with the client or meet with the um with the owner here and it was determined that at that point that disanexation would not be appropriate. Correct. Because it wasn't the appropriate

Right. Right. Because really the only way that you can petition for disanexation is if you didn't receive services that were promised in the municipal services agreement, which is not the case here. Um, and so the grounds for disanexation don't exist in this case and council has considered the facts. Um, and I don't think there's any new facts that would change that opinion. Um there it there's really just limited reasons for um I understand your position. I understand allow it.

Sure. I I understand your position. I'm simply just urging a reconsideration. But if this if the council has made his decision, then you know the we would have to kind of proceed on our next step. And I think that the maybe the permitting office is trying to work or do something. I mean we're going to try to negotiate, but we're just trying to make sure that this gentleman tries to reopen his tries to recoup some of his funds. Yeah. And that's kind of where we are with it. Understood. And this is this is a this is a horrible situation. In fact, we during workshop we discussed a number of said driven by the property. It's a nice property. He's you know it's built it's built well. It from the outside it's appealing but it simply does not meet the requirements for disanexation. Right. And so the other aspect just

this again this this isn't the place to argue that. Right. And I've um the last question out of a prepoundonderance of um patience and fairness, it it it would be I know that we can table this and maybe have an you or another of the city attorneys could meet with Mr. Simeon to go over this. I I don't want this appear to be a strong armed situation. So I think that's probably what could be considered as long as that's what we can do. Sure. Absolutely. if you want to postpone this item that we can discuss and then I'll get back with you, mayor, and see how you want to handle. Okay. Maybe maybe there's a happy medium somewhere. But thank you.

Thank you guys so much. Also, Mr. Simeon, you might want to have your client visit with the commissioners at Bell County because I think that even if he were to danex that he would still run into the same issue. Yeah, I think there may be some other things that can be worked on. No, I appreciate it. But yeah, we'll we'll try to figure it out, but I wanted just to bring So, my understanding is we're going to table that in for right now. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Very good. Okay. Anybody else have anything? I don't see I don't see anything else on my schedule that shows that anybody wants to speak about anything other than item H. But there are lots of empty blocks here

um whenever it asked what the the reason for which you were going to speak. So, is there any other item other than H anybody wants to talk about? Talk about the weather. Talk about Are y'all um What's this? Yes, we all Adam H. That's Adam H. That's what we're doing at the end. Okay. Okay. Very good. Anything else?

Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I thought you said yes to the I thought I You said center. You said salmons and I heard data. I should have turned my good ear to you. So, okay. So, we might have you as a member pretty soon. I I could use that. I could use that. Okay. So, hold on. Hold on. Are you wanting to speak? Yes. Are you signed up on What's your name? Yes. Your name is Yes. Okay. if you would like to come speak on salmons and if it's really different than what we've already talked about that would be fine. Well, the the only difference and I might Yeah, proceed there please. Thank you.

Feel like I'm losing control up here. Just like I said, my my name is Gretchen Baloshinsky and I just want to say that today is a sad day because we we are mourning our our beautiful center and um I was hoping that we're not going to go ahead and mourn the second year but it looks like we will and many other after that. So if there's any suggestion how we can help you as a citizen of this uh uh city, please don't hesitate. We have a lot of resources. We have a lot of wisdom. I didn't count, but maybe I will. How many years old are we in one of the classes? But it goes in thousands. So, you know, there's a lot of So, thank you. And please, if anything comes to your mind that you can speed it up the process or we can help you with it, uh, don't hesitate. We are

and I left this part out and I apologize. the um the programming the city staff is working toward um getting all the pro all the activities that were going on at Sammons to get those all located because right now as you know the activities are still going on but it's spread out you know across a number of facilities and the plan uh staff is working on a scheduling plan to get all of those activities back in one location. obviously won't be the salmon center, but it'll be to a different location and that will uh all that will roll out soon. So, and please don't hesitate just understood. Understood. Can I have a follow up on that?

Are you signed up? Well, then come on. They don't let me just call people up willy-nilly. Say your name for the record, please.

Yes. My name is Gerlyn Brown and I am not a citizen of Temple. I live in Morgan's Point, but I am a member of Semons and have been and um I was really surprised when you said that this would have to be come up as part of a bond issue. It's good to know that this the council is still looking at this very seriously. But I have a question that I wonder. I would assume that as the other facilities in Temple are shured by T Texas Municipal League that Sammons was insured and I don't know that the insurance is such a payoff is such a shortfall that we have to go forward a bond issue with a number of other buildings which I think dilutes the need for salmons itself. And when you're talking about having another facility somewhere where everything can be together, but if you look at the I35 corridor and the corridor of 317, that area from Adams going towards Moody, they're predicting another 3 to 500 houses there. And we have nothing on the east side without salmons. We have the pool. But when you talked about them raising the building, you didn't say that the new building would go back where Semens is. And there is a definite need for something on the west side of Temple and not just keep pushing everything west. And that is that's a big concern. You're putting it further and further out of reach for people on the west side of I35.

Very good. Thank you. And is is that do we know that when the building is raised that a new structure will go in that place or will it be somewhere else? Uh that is actually a great question. I've not asked that.

And there again, was the building not insured enough to help that or replace the building? address that. Sure.

The um the storm damage um the storm damaged the roof and in the process of repairing the roof, we found we identified significant structural concerns that were not caused by the storm, but revealed by the storm. So, the insurance would not pay for the structural issues. So, unfortunately, it's not really an insurance issue. And um uh I I know the mayor and council have mentioned this before, but um certainly some new faces in the room. Um under Texas state law, we are allowed to expend funds, certain funds for the repair of buildings. Um but any new um community or recreational facility uh construction with bond funds requires um a vote of the public. Um and so uh in order to construct a new uh salmon center um you know at that location or elsewhere uh would require a uh vote uh in a general obligation bond election and the state law further restricts when a bond election can be held. So there's only um two times a year that a bond election can be held. The next opportunity for council to consider that would be for the November 2026 um general election and um they would call that election in August is when the the decision would need to be made to call that election and the scope of you know what would be on the agenda. Uh council has directed me uh that this is one of their highest priorities. So they would like to see us present a plan u that would uh provide for uh their consideration for the rebuilding of salmons. So this has uh has become one of our organization's highest priorities to develop that plan and provide council

options uh for their consideration. We will certainly need community feedback. So, we will be calling um as we develop uh the plan to answer some of your some of the questions and provide feedback to council about where you know are we talking about rebuilding in the same location which certainly has its benefits because the salmon's indoor pool uh is still located there. Um what uh you know size and configuration are we talking about? there's a lot of decisions that uh will need to be made that will be seeking the input of the um the community and and the participants in the in the current programming. Um so while this is um a really sad situation that um that that we are all um I think we're all mourning it a little bit. I I think who whoever said that was was that was appropriate um because it is a um a loved facility. It was a beautiful facility but it's simply unsafe. Um and so as we have tried everything that we could uh to find a way to save it and determine that that's not a possibility, our focus and our energy is now turned to how can we replace it. And so again, unfortunately, insurance proceeds are not an option. Um but we are going to uh work closely with the council um and the and the community uh you all especially who are patrons of the facility and we will present a plan um going forward to how we can restore the facility um the the need that that facil the facility filled. And as mayor mentioned, we're also uh attempting to to get back in place a an area where um the programming can be gathered. Some of the um just the fellowship that happened in the facility um that's missing can be restored. Um and so um here just in the um the next few days I'll be sending out a letter to um all of you who um are members and uh just to the community in general that will provide some additional details

about that as we finalize our our next steps here. Um and then again I can't emphasize enough that we will continue to work with um with you all as we come uh come up with the plan for how we can um how we can deter how we can get a plan together for uh rebuilding the facility. I certainly appreciate the council's focus and their attention and hearing us out. Thank you very much. Of course. Anybody else?

All right. Very good. Moving on to uh item three, which is special recognitions. We have a few of those tonight. The first one is to recognize the Tipple Public Li library for receiving the TMLDA Excellence Award. Mr. Page, sorry. Thank you. Uh we're very excited to share the news that our community has received the 2025 achievement of library excellence award from the Texas Municipal Library Directors Association. Uh this is a statewide organization that uh promotes high standards of public library service across the state of Texas. Uh this does uh this recognition does place Temple Public Library among the top 20% of libraries in the state. Uh only about oneif of the 500 libraries in the state earned the award this year. The award reflects the dedication of all of our library staff members, some of whom I have with me here. So let me introduce assistant director Erin Gaines, who is just recently appointed, but she has a 20-year career with the uh library and the city of Temple. And Jennifer Henson, who's the head of our adult services, and most of the people here may know you because you're on the floor and you who've been on the floor. So, um I just wanted to thank them uh for all of their hard work and our entire staff. Um the impact of the programs and partnerships that support literacy and equitable access to information uh is what this recognizes. Uh through outreach services, innovative programming, expanded bilingual and family literacy initiatives, and strong partnerships in the community, uh the library continues to meet residents where they are to provide meaningful opportunities for learning and connection. We like to be that hub of of

places to meet and programs and things to do. U I'm deeply grateful to you, Mayor Davis, and all the city council members and city leadership uh Bren and Aaron for all of the support uh continued support of library services. Um and as importantly I want to express my utmost gratitude to the people of Temple who make it possible who sustain uh this institution and the thousands of you who um out there use our services check out books and materials attend programs and make it the lively place that it is. So I wanted to take a photo if we could and uh we'll we have a plaque and we'll take a photo with you mayor if we may.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Oh, can I give you this?

Oh, sorry.

Now, here I should have just stayed down there. Oh, well, that's okay if we want to. Um, there is a proclamation. I don't know if you want to read that first or so. The next item is a proclamation recognizing Temple uh Tale Texas Author and Literature Experience Festival. You want me to read the proclamation?

I can go ahead if you want. Um as a welcoming space, as I said before, uh the Temple Public Library is delighted to announce the first ever Temple Tale, TL T, which as you can see is Texas Author and Literature Experience. Uh we uh it'll be this Saturday. I don't want to forget to say that. March 7th from 1:00 to 5:00 at the library. And this is really to uh have an event that supports writers in the community and people who are interested in in developing those skills, but also people who are publishing uh in various ways. They're writing across genres and they're they're publishing independently or they might be self-published or they might be working with an imprint or a traditional publisher. Uh so to support a community of writers, the library developed this new community literary festival um to celebrate independent storytelling. It brings together uh readers. Everybody's invited. You come and we'll have tables with 17 authors uh who who have their items for sale. You can browse those or talk with them about their path to publishing. Uh we'll have author talks, a story time, and readings. And then we will also have hands-on activities so adults can create a travel scroll. children can um learn about the publishing process by writing their story and illustrating and actually having a bookbound. And so we uh invite everybody to come out and uh we want to acknowledge partners which friends of the Temple Public Library, the Temple Literacy Council and HB. And we encourage everybody to stop by and we will listen to proclamation. Thank you. And I have more information.

Sorry, I'm just in a head. I thought we were going to do another picture. So I came down now and realize we're not. So all right. So the proclamation is from the office of the mayor of the city of Temple. Whereas storytelling is central to literacy, creativity, and community connection, giving voice to diverse experiences and strengthening cultural understanding. And whereas Temple Tale Texas author and literature experience is a new literature festival presented by the Temple Public Library to celebrate independent authors, local voices, and the creative spirit of readers and writers of all ages. And whereas Temple Tale invites the community to meet authors, explore independent titles, and engage in conversations about the writing and publishing process, offering insight into how stories are imagined, shaped, and shared. Whereas the libraries festivals provides hand-on learning opportunities for emerging writers, a comprehensive bookmaking workshop for aspiring authors ages eight and up, and creative zen making experiences for teens that encourage self-expression and confidence through storytelling. And whereas Temple Tale reflects the city of Temple's commitment to literacy, lifelong learning, and community-based cultural programming that celebrates the power of stories to connect, inspire, and strengthen our community. Now, therefore, I, Timothy A. Davis, mayor of the city of Temple, Texas, do hereby recognize and celebrate the first Temple Tale, Texas Author and Literature Experience Festival in the city of Temple, taking place on March 7th, 2026. In testimony whereof, I witnessed my hand in the soul of the city of Temple, Texas on this 5th day of March, 2026. Congratulations.

Thank you very much. What are we done? Okay. Next is a proclamation recognizing March 2026 as American Red Cross month in the city of Temple. Do we have any Red Crossers here tonight? come on down.

Thank you, mayor. Um, yes, on behalf of the Red Cross, thank you for proclaiming March's Red Cross Month. We were founded 145 years ago with the mission of preventing and alleviating human suffering. And we're so grateful for the city of Temple for, you know, welcoming us into the community and allowing us to really um, you know, embrace the community here. Um, as part of our mission, we have service to the armed forces. We support our active duty and veterans. Um, we support disaster response. Uh, not just the big hurricanes and tornadoes, but also, you know, daily home fires that we see, as well as having blood drives. Uh, we supply over 40% of the nation's blood supply. And we offer CPR, first aid, AED, training courses, and a lot of other preparedness information to help keep our community safe. So, we just want to say thank you so much uh for this proclamation. And if anybody else would like to say anything, these are our some of our wonderful volunteers who we could not do the mission without.

If you would at least, if you're not going to say anything, volunteers, if you'd at least step up and introduce yourselves, we would appreciate that. Hi, I'm Jeb Lootweiler. I'm a volunteer for about the last two and a half years. Very good. Thank you, Jeb. Hi, I'm Tisa Robinson. I'm the disaster program manager covering Bell County and the surrounding seven counties. Very good. Um, my name is Rick Katner. I've been a volunteer since August of 21 and I'm currently the board chair for the heart of Texas.

Very good. Very good. Well, if I may, let me read this proclamation from the office of the mayor of the city of Temple. Whereas the American Red Cross was founded to provide compassionate care and relief to those in need and for over 140 years has served communities across the United States, including Temple and the surrounding area. Whereas in Temple, the Red Cross relies on dedicated on a dedicated network of volunteers who respond when disaster strikes, ensuring no one faces the crisis alone. Whereas this organization strengthens our community by providing life-saving blood training in first aid and CPR as well as supporting our local military members, veterans, and their families. And whereas residents of Temple have joined millions of people across the United States who donate their time and resources to the critical humanitarian role that the Red Cross plays in our community, making Temple safer and stronger. Now, therefore, I, Timothy A. Davis, mayor of the city of Temple, Texas, to hereby proclaim the month of March 2026 as American Red Cross Month in the city of Temple, Texas. And I urge all citizens to recognize and support the volunteers and donors who enable this life-saving work uh dedicated to the mission of the Red Cross. In testimony whereof, I witness my hand and the seal of the city of Temple, Texas on this 5th day of March, 2026. Thank you for uh for everything that the Red Cross does in our community and congratulations.

Thank you.

Thank you so much. Thank you, ma'am.

Okay. Next, we're going to move on to the consent agenda. All items that are listed under the consent agenda are considered to be routine by the city council and may be enacted in one motion. If discussion is desired by city council, any item may be removed from the consent agenda at the request of any council member and will be considered separately. As discussed, we are going to um pull item H for separate consideration at the end of the meeting. And we are also going to postpone item N until um the city attorney staff has had an opportunity to speak with the uh with the attorney that spoke earlier. So, uh, council, is there anything else that needs to be removed for consideration? All right. Then, at this time, council, I will entertain a motion on item 6 A through 6P, less items uh, H and item N.

Approval of the consent agenda 6 A through P, less H, and N. Second it.

We have a motion by Council Member Kirkin Doll. We have a second by Mayor Pro Tim Walker. Council, please cast your vote. Consent agenda as stated passes four votes to zero. Moving on to item N is to consider adopting a resolution denying a petition to disanex 6.2 plus or minus acres situated in the Maximo Marino survey abstract number 14 Bell County, Texas and addressed as 3610 East Adams. Um as discussed we'll postpone this item uh probably until the next meeting but but the very near future. So, um, council, I'll entertain a motion on postpone on postponing item N, uh, to the near future.

I'll move to postpone item N. Second. We have a motion by Mayor Pro Tim Walker. We have a second by Council Member Grant. Council, please cast your vote. Item 6 uh, to table passes four votes to zero. Next item is the first reading in a public hearing to consider adopting an ordinance authorizing an amendment to ordinance 2020-5061 city of Temple uh comprehensive plan 2020 to amend the future thoroughfare plan. Mr. Decman.

All right. Good evening, mayor, council members. So, this is the first package of amendments. You're going to see more of these in the future. Uh we're working on updating our long range plans. This is part of the comprehensive plan. uh and get right into what is a thoroughfare plan. It's the concept of where we need the roads, how to handle the traffic as Temple grows and what the classification, what the size of those roads should be. Uh those amendments in this plan is informed by a number of factors. Reszonings and planning developments may change what we thought we needed. Uh preliminary final plats may tweak the alignments so we align our plan with what has been constructed. city master plans, neighborhood plans, give us some in-depth thought of what the future should look like for that area or as the city brings capital improvement projects forward, then that may result in a change to this network of future thorough affairs. Um, they're implemented as we go through development approval as the city and council y'all adopt these master plans. And the idea is to ensure as development comes forward that it remains in compliance with our comprehensive plan. And then we have four criteria that we look at uh that's really it's should be common sense. Is it constructible? Does it provide the connections that we need? Does it match the character of the area? Uh and does it provide the necessary capacity for the traffic which we all know is continuing to increase. So the first one is the Wildflower Trails area. This is west of Kegley, south of Adams. This was a result of a plan development that was approved by council recently. Uh during that conversation there was discussion of what the thoroughare plan required versus what was going to be built and how could we meet those needs and this is what was approved. So it changes one collector that ran north south and one that ran east west. It adds another

short collector. So there'll be two collector entrances out to Kegley. uh that tangle head connector once all that property gets developed will provide that connectivity uh and then we've got connections to the north and south uh and that is verbatim from what the PD site plan when that plan development came through the resoning process these alignments match what was approved the next one is north of FM 2483 and west of 317 as you see on the current plan we didn't have alignment It's on the fringe. It's on the edge out towards Morgan's Point. In the past, when we looked at it, you know, there wasn't a thought that maybe this area needed a bit more, but as we looked at it, uh, we've got a master plan that covers part of this area. And talking with the development, the developer is that there really needed to be some additional connections to ensure traffic through that neighborhood's going to flow smoothly gives them multiple options to get in and out and they're not going to be bottlenecked. So you see uh what was approved with the platting process is the solid purple line is a neighborhood collector running through the first phase that has been approved. One connection out to North Point, another one to 317. There's some future community collectors will be constructed in future phases of this and that area as you get down towards 2043 will be future retail offices. um maybe some more intense uses is going to require that higher classification up at the north where it's the neighborhood collector single family homes. Uh and then 2483 was constructed. So it'll change from a proposed minor arterial to a existing minor arterial. Here's a copy of the plat that shows how that street layout. So the applicant worked with staff to find a solution that made sense and provided that additional connectivity for that neighborhood and for the surrounding roadways. The next one is up in the northwest area

uh outside of the outer loop and there was a couple things that came in. One was a TEDC project recently annexed uh reszoned and the plat uh is coming through. It's going to dedicate some rightway that's going to cause some of the roadways in this area to shift. And then part of one of the changes on our map was FM 1237 up there to the north was shown as proposed. Well, that road's built. So, first thing, the easy one, we're just going to reflect that that's an existing road, not a proposed road. And then you see on the middle of the map where Old Howard is going to shift. Cedar Creek Road uh is going to be classified as a minor arterial, but also extended to meet that change in Old Howard. And I've got a detailed view. you can look a little bit closer. Uh so again, there's the current alignment of Old Howard that recently came to you guys for an abandonment. Uh that'll maintain as an easement and be the road until the new Old Howard road is constructed. And then Cedar Creek will be extended to meet that. Uh, and there's a detail of the subdivision plat that shows how they're going to divide some of that land up, the new streets that'll be constructed for that future uh, commercial project, whatever types of businesses end up locating there. And the final one is down along between Midway and Shallford. Uh, we've had a development coming in in phases for a couple years now uh, that they needed some additional connectivity. They've got some additional properties that they're bringing in that they're early in the zoning process with sitting down with staff and looking at the connectivity that's needed. They need more entrances to add more homes uh onto Channel Ford and have some other options. But you've got, as you see, that big flood plane that runs through the middle

there. So the proposal is to change that collector, shift it over uh so it does not cross the flood plane and then it'll provide an additional entrance to that neighborhood and through the area. Uh and that'll support development on the properties to the west and to the north. So you see there's the detail of the preliminary plat that's being revised as we speak with the multiple entrances that are there. uh and that community or excuse me that neighborhood collector in that lower left corner that's going to wrap around provide some additional throughput for that neighborhood. So notice for the hearing was published in the temple telegram on February 6 in accordance with state law and local ordinance. Staff recommends approval of the proposed amendments. At the February 17th meeting P&Z voted seven to zero to recommend approval of the proposed thoroughfare plan amendments. and I'll take any questions you may have.

Thank you, sir. Council, anything for Mr. Deckman? It's kind of a cleanup basically. Little bit of both. A little past cleanup and accommodate what's coming, but make sure it makes sense. Very good. All right. Um, this item is subject to a public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on this item may do so. We ask that you uh come to the podium. Alan, would you prefer to have somebody bring you a mic? Okay. Okay.

Alan L. I live here in Temple and I have a question for the for the council and for Mr. Dickman. Do you all know when the 500y year plan 500 years begins? Begins the day after you get flooded out. That's right. Because that happens. Building too close to a 500 year I you I lived in a flood plane and got flooded out three times. Building too close to a flood plane, especially a road, consideration needs to be made to be sure that it is elevated enough not to get flooded out. Yes, sir. Thank you, Jason.

Thank you, Alan. Anybody else? hi, my name is Jenna Hall. I'm just a local homeowner and a nurse. Um, so I just know that the Kegley Road is the only one that I noticed that I was kind of concerned about because I know that hospital there, uh, continuing care hospital at Baylor Scott and White, they enjoy the nature there. So, as long as you can preserve the the wildlife behind that hospital, that'd be really nice. Important. Thank you.

Anybody else on item seven? All right. I will uh close the public hearing on item seven and council. I'll entertain a motion.

Second. We have a motion by council member Grant. We have a second by Mayor Pro Tim Walker. Please cast your vote. Item seven passes four votes to zero. Item eight is the first reading of public hearing to consider adopting an ordinance authorizing amendments to ordinance 20110-4413 city of Temple Unified Development Code as follows. Item A, section 5.1, table of uses, add permanent cosmetics. Item B, section 6.2, mixed use, allow office use. Item C, section 8.2.6, subdivision lots, clarify lot area width and depth is required to be provided on the subdivision plat. and section 11 definitions. Revise telephone exchange, add laboratory manufacturing, add permanent cosmetics, and re uh revise the tattoo definition. Miss Smith.

Thank you, mayor and councel. This is the first reading today. Um so, as you stated, we are recommending adding um permanent cosmetics as an incidental use. Um many salons here in Temple have been requesting this. um currently that's classified as tattoo, but those locations are very limited. And this service is typically within a beauty salon. So, it's not just a standalone use. So, this amendment um if approved would allow this as a incidental use within a beauty shop up to a 25% gross revenue. Um that would be allowed in right um in office, neighborhood service, general retail, commercial, um central area, light industrial, and heavy industrial. We have also defined the term permanent cosmetics um to make sure that that is separate. Um we also have cosmetic tattooing and then you would see permanent cosmetics from there. And then here is our land use table where you can see a barber shop or a beauty shop and where that is permitted. This would be again an incidental use. Uh mixed use. Um, we are requesting that office is allowed by right within the mixeduse district unless it is adjacent to a residential use in which a conditional use permit would be required. Um, I we believe that this was an oversight since retail was already allowed in here. Um, and so we just want to add that to be allowed and be consistent with the nature of the zoning district for subdivision lots. Um currently we have that lot area with setback line, sideyards and rear yards and death requirements must be provided as required in the UDC. Um so we um as you all know uh the zoning district is uh does dictate setbacks and sideyard and rear yard requirements. Um so we'd like to remove that and we wanted to clarify that this must be shown on the subdivision plat. Uh when we did take this to the planning and zoning commission at their February 17th meeting, um they recommended tableabling

this and so we'll be putting that in our recommendation for you all today. Uh we've also defined the term um so we want to revise the definition for telephone exchange so we can uh include updated technology such as unmanned fiber optics communication facility and we um have also received some requests on laboratory manufacturing. So, we have added uh that definition for your consideration today. Uh we did send out a public uh notification of this public hearing to the Temple Daily Telegram on February 6th of this year. Um and the DRC reviewed that on February 2nd and found no issues. So, at their uh February 17th meeting, the planning and zoning commission recommended the following. They recommended approval of the UDC amendments except they did recommend tableabling amendment C as I stated that related to subdivision lots that will give us an opportunity to um work with our development community to revise that and bring it back through PNZ and then we concur with their recommendation. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have.

Thank you ma'am. Council anything for Miss Smith. All right. This item um item eight is also subject to a public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak may do so. Just step to the podium, please. Nobody. All right. Then I'll close the uh public hearing on item eight. Council, I'll entertain a motion. I'll make a motion to approve item eight and table C 8 C.

We have a motion by Council Member Walker. We have a second by Council Member Grant. Council, please cast your vote. Item eight passes four votes to zero while tableabling item C. Moving on to item nine is the first reading in a public hearing to consider adopting an ordinance authorizing a resoning request from a to light industrial on 196.638 638 plus or minus acres in the city of Temple, Bell County, Texas. Described at as parcels 63668, 63670, 73794,49225, 9150310008, 418-579,418 580, 418-581, 418-582, 526468, and 526469.

It's a lot of numbers. always my favorite part.

You did great. Um so this is just under 200 acres of property. It's intended to expand um our industrial park. Um this is associated with a previous annexation um that was approved and part of a larger economic development um in this area. Um as I stated, it was approved um for annexation just recently at the February 19th council meeting. Um so the proposal is to change this from agricultural to light industrial which is consistent with other industrial uses that have been recently reszoned. As you can see here in the use comparison table um we just do a comparison between the existing zoning agricultural and light industrial. So you can see the different uses that are allowed there and what would be allowed by right under light industrial. Uh according to our comprehensive plan um this area is um actually shown right now as a rurala rural estate. However, given the fact that it is directly adjacent to light industrial um we feel like an amendment to the comprehensive plan is necessary um and we do agree with doing that. Here is some pictures of the areas you can see right now. Um it is mainly rural. The site um is served by water and sewer. There's an 18inch pressurized sewer line along Lorraine Avenue and water lines along FM3117, Bob White and Lorraine Avenue. Um FM 317 is a minor arterial and Bob White is classified as a community collector on our thoroughfare plan. Uh additional right ofway and and road alignments will be determined um when we get to platting, but the first step is zoning the property. Notices were sent out to 10 property owners that were within 200 feet of the proposed zoning change and we also sent out 24 courtesy notices to properties within the ETJ. We received one response representing three properties in agreement and zero in disagreement. The notice was published in the Temple Daily

Telegram on February 6. So, as you can see in the compliance summary, it does comply with all of our planning documents and we recommend approval of the resoning from a to light industrial. The planning and zoning commission recommended approval of the resoning on the at their February 17th meeting and I'll be happy to answer any questions you have. Thank you, ma'am. Council, anything for Smith? We're all this in workshop, so I'm good. Thank you. Okay. Um, item eight, I'm sorry, item nine, subject to a public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak may do so. No, Alan.

Okay.

Hi, my name is Stacy Klein. I was just wondering, do we already know what the intended purpose is for the 196 acres? I don't know that we do. This is just simply a reszoning, right? So, it would allow any of the uses within the light industrial zoning district. Okay. Great question. Thank you. Anybody else? You're leaning forward, Alan? No. No. All right. Very good. Then I will uh I'll close the public hearing and uh council I will entertain a motion on item number nine. Item nine.

Second. We have a motion by council member Grant. The second by council member Kirkindall. Council, please cast your vote. Item nine passes four votes to zero. Item 10 is the first reading in a public hearing to consider adopting an ordinance designating approximately 36.93 acres located at 5101 Windland Road and further identified by property ID ID numbers 488721 and 496182 as city of Temple tax abatement reinvestment zone number 48 for commercial and industrial tax abatements. Miss Davis This item is for the creation of tax abatement reinvestment zone number 48 within the city of Temple. and chapter 312 of the tax code does allow the city council to designate an area of the city as a tax abatement reinvestment zone if the designation is likely to contribute to the retention or expansion of employment or attract major investment in the zone that would benefit both the property and the economic development of the city. And every two years, the council adopts standards for tax abatement. And your standards do provide that if at least two of the following criteria are met, then you can designate a tax abatement reinvestment zone and authorize tax abatement on a property that's located in that zone. I'm not going to read all of those to you. So we do have a um application for tax abatement from East Penn manufacturing company. They are a current corporate resident of the city and they are planning an expansion of their their current facility and have asked um to abate a percentage of the increase in

the taxable value of their planned expansion. On the agenda today is the first reading of the ordinance that would create a TARS which is the first step to to approving a tax abatement agreement. And on your next meeting, if you approve today's first reading, there will be the second reading of the um application of the um creation of the tax abatement reinvestment zone as well as the tax abatement application itself. A little bit of background on East Penn's um planned expansion. It is existing on their current site out on Windland Road and they do um plan to do site improvements, engineering, permitting, and the construction of an addition. Um the addition will be over 175,000 square feet. The facility will contain distribution equipment, manufacturing equipment, and auxiliary support equipment. and site site work modifications will consist of parking improvements, water, gas, and communications connections along with extensive electrical upgrades. And the expansion is projected to include an investment of a minimum of $110 billion in the creation of 48 new full-time positions consisting of manufacturing and warehouse staff. staff does believe in reviewing the application that the project meets the criteria that's contained within your standards for tax abatement and that the project involves a minimum um 50% increase of the for the expansion of an existing facility. It makes a substantial contribution to the redevelopment efforts of the city. It has high visibility image impact or is of a significantly higher level of development quality. The project can serve as a catalyst for other developments of higher standard and it stimulates desired concentrations of

employment or commercial activity. Additionally, the project will expand the employment base, attract major investment and contribute to economic development in the city as required by chapter 312 of the tax code. Now, as a reminder, all you're doing tonight is I'm considering the first reading of the ordinance that would create the tax abatement reinvestment zone, which is a prerequisite to considering a tax abatement agreement, which would be um on your March 19th agenda. Any questions? Council,

anything for Miss Davis? Um, as I said earlier, this item is subject to a public hearing. Anyone wish to speak may do so. Just step to the podium, please. Alan Lidle. I live here in Temple. This may be the wrong time to ask this one. It may have to be later. Uh, the tax abatement zone, does that mean that it's abate? the taxes are abated forever or is that part of the other part we're going to do next time?

That would be part of next week's or next meeting's agenda. Correct. This one doesn't commit the city to any tax abatement or or anything at all. It's just a pre prerequisite to be able to consider the tax abatement agreement at its next meeting. Okay. And that'll be the the tax abatement agreement will be spelled out. Yes. Yeah. Next week, two weeks. does have tax. So, it couldn't be any more than 10 years anyway. Okay, very good. Anybody else? All right, council entertainment. Oh, I'm sorry.

Didn't see Joe Royer, District 2. Um, uh, I gotta say, um, at first glance, well done. Like, $110 million investment and 48 new jobs and like this this looks like a good plan so far. Like, thank you. Yeah. Yeah. They are they're they're an existing uh uh battery manufacturing plant out in the North Industrial Park. Um they are originally out of Reading, Pennsylvania. And I don't know, it's probably been five maybe seven years. Um they were looking for another uh manufacturing distribution facility um you know down further south. So we um flew out there. and a number of us flew out and visited with them and uh top-notch company. Um and I believe I believe it's it's familyowned or very closely held and uh they do great work, take care of their workers and they're a great addition uh to our partner. They've been here and they've been successful and um you know so successful that they're investing another $110 million and hiring 48 you know 48 new people. So it's great it's great for the city. Okay, with that, uh, anybody else want to speak on the public hearing?

All right, with that, uh, council, I will close the public hearing and I'll entertain a motion on item 10. Second.

We have a motion by council member Kirkindall. We have a second by Mayor Pro Tim Walker. Council, please cast your vote. That item passes um four votes to zero. Before I move on, one more thing that's interesting about East Penn is they they um the batteries that they manufacture, they recycle old batteries. I mean, it it really it is a full cycle plant. They recycle they bring in old batteries, recycle them, recast them into the you know the plastics into the um uh into the appropriate size battery that they're making. I think it is start to finish um process very interesting, very clean, very professional. So, it's it's a like I said, it's a it's a great addition. We're glad they're expanding here. Um, item 11 is to consider adopting a resolution approving a development or site plan in in accordance with ordinance 2021-00007 for a mixeduse building on approximately 3.354 plus or minus acres described as Blue Meadow Place block one lot one in the city of Temple Bell County, Texas addressed as 2551 Blue Meadow Drive. Mr. Stewart.

Evening. So, this is a site plan that was brought to you as a resolution in accordance to the ordinance from 2021. It's located on South 31st Street near FM93, that intersection, and it's located in between the Bentwood subdivision and the Bellera subdivision. Uh the background behind it is that this was a track that was set apart as a part of the Bentwood planned development in 20 2001. It was developed in 2002, but this tract was left vacant and it's remained vacant. In 2021, an applicant came forward to develop on it and they had developed a site plan that was approved by city council in 2021. Uh, a change to that site plan has happened and as a condition of the ordinance, it had to come before you to get approval. So the one on the left is the first site plan that was originally approved and then the second one on the right is what's being proposed now. Just a closer look at it. So what's on the site plan is that a 21,000 square foot building give or take is being constructed with the ability to have up to 11 suites on it. And the proposed uses are pretty much anything that's allowed by the zoning of neighborhood services except for a convenience store with gasoline sales. So that will include like retail, medical, uh restaurants uses and then the dumpster area was in the rear portion behind the building and like the southwestern portion of the site. For landscaping, uh UDC requires that they have a 5% landscaping requirement. What's being provided by their site plan is around 29%. And then there's a frontage requirement for trees and what they're proposing is to have 33 trees along the three street frontages which would be 31st Street, Legacy Oaks and Blue Meadow Drive. For the future development plan of this area, this is designated as corridor mixeduse, which was which allows for a

mix of uses between residential and commercial uses. So with this neighborhood services is an appropriate zoning and we feel that uh the PD in that zoning is good to go forward for public utilities. There's water line that connects into the property from Blue Meadow Drive. It's a 6-in line and then there's also a 12-in line along 31st Street. Wastewater and sewer. There's the 8 inch line along Legacy Oaks on the back of the property and then it goes to uh this southern portion of the property for the thoroughfare and trails master plan. Uh 31st is a major arterial by our standards. So with that we have a requirement for sixoot sidewalks to be constructed and that's also part of the trails master plan and they proposed to construct that. For access there's no access off of 31st. access will be taken from Blue Meadow Drive and Legacy Oaks Drive. Uh for parking spaces, we require that there are 86 according to the uses that they're proposing. And what they're providing is 136 including 88 accessible parking spaces. Uh they have their fire lanes for emergency vehicles and they have a 30 foot and a 45 foot wide entrance area. Sidewalks. Another condition of the PD that was approved in 2021 was that they were also going to construct sidewalks along Legacy Oaks and Blue Meadow Drive. So along with the sixoot sidewalk for 31st Street, they're constructing a 5- foot wide one for Legacy Oaks Drive and a 4 foot wide one for Blue Meadow Drive. And these are photos. So for Blue Meadow Drive, there's somewhat of a sidewalk that's already constructed. So they're just going to fill in the gaps that aren't there. And for the other parts of the property, uh, along 31st with the bottom view, there's not a sidewalk there, but they're going to connect to the sidewalks that are stubbed out from the other subdivisions. And more photos of just looking along Blue Meadow Drive and then from the rear

of the property on Legacy Oaks Drive. PNZ voted unanimously unanimously 70 to approve this site plan and staff recommends approval with the conditions that if there are any major variances it comes back before y'all. Minor site plan changes can be approved by the planning director and then pretty much that they follow the site plan that was presented before you today. Are there any questions?

Very good. Thank you, Mr. Stewart. Anything council for Mr. Stewart? No, my only questions early on were dumpster location and light trespass and looks like y'all taken care of all that and I appreciate them um putting in more trees than they needed to. That's that's going to help beautifification. Mr. Stewart, is this your first presentation before council? Yes, ma'am. killed it. The new guy. The new guy. Good job. You either spent all night memorizing that or you nailed it. I think you nailed it. I think you did, too. I think you did, too. Way to go. It's a pleasure to meet you.

Um, this uh item is not subject to a public hearing. So, um, council, I'll entertain a motion. If there's nothing for Mr. Stewart, I'll entertain a motion on item 11. Second. We have a motion by council member Kirkindall. We have a second by council member Grant. Council, please cast your vote. Item 11 passes four votes to zero. Item 12 is to consider adopting a resolution authorizing approval to dual name the 1700 and 18800 blocks of East Avenue J to Joyce Greg Tapley Lane to honor her community contributions. Miss Brown.

Yes, sir.

So, we're before you today to ask for just like you said the dual renaming of Avenue or East Avenue J. Um, it'll be a dual street naming and it will be the 1700 and 1800 blocks of East Avenue J to honor Miss Joyce Greg Tapley. And the request was made by her daughter um who couldn't be here today. She's out of state um but by her daughter Kimberly. Her contributions to our community are mainly with the school. Uh she was with the Temple Independent School District for over 40 years. Um, in her time she made most spent most of her time at um, Meredith Dunbar Early Childhood Learning Academy and she retired from the ISD in 2013 and passed away in March of 2019. And we're just asking for your approval for the still renaming.

Very good. Thank you. Council, anything for Kelly? That's an easy one. Gregory, are you familiar with that person? Yes, sir. I know you are. Congratulations. I know this means a lot to your family. You bet. You bet. When my son, she greeted everybody in the morning and she was just joy to come in and see first thing in the morning. What they need. That's great. That's great. That's that's a nice legacy. Very good. Well, then council and it's it's my honor to um entertain a motion on item 12.

Item 12. Second it. We have a motion by Council Member Grant. We have a second by Mayor Pro Tim Walker. Council, please cast your vote. Item 12 passes four votes to zero. Again, Gregory, congratulations. That's worked. Okay, let's hop back over to the consent. Let me get there. All right. So on the consent agenda we pulled for voting purposes item H was to consider adopting a resolution authorizing utility service agreement with Row and Temple LLC to provide continuous and adequate portable water supply and uh water carried waste services and infrastructure to support the development of a data center project near Synergy Park. Earlier in the week, it was requested um an email request came in uh wanting the council to table this not to table this item, but to uh pull this item for um uh specific voting purposes. And um it had a lot of requests in there. So, it made sense to ask staff to put together a presentation that may address some of the concerns some folks have that are here. And so, I'd like to introduce assistant city manager um David Olsen. and David will uh walk through uh the presentation.

Thank you, mayor. Uh as you mentioned that this item before you tonight is for a utility service agreement, and we'll get into specifically what that is momentarily, but just uh for the the larger crowd as well as as council's benefit, I wanted to give a little bit of background on the project. Uh this is a 554 acre development site for a data center and supporting infrastructure. The uh investment commitment for this particular project is $700 million and it will create 40 new full-time jobs. Um as just walking through a little bit of a timeline of of the times that you've seen this item before you, we we had an annexation case and a zoning case that were on your September 18th meeting. Uh and kind of for for the benefit of everyone here, I want to touch quickly on what's what's happening in each of those cases. The annexation of course is a voluntary request to come into the city limits uh during the zoning case. That's a planned development LI zoning for this particular development and it that allows for conditions to be placed on on that uh that zoning case. In this particular case, one of those conditions was that the uh the development would come forward with a utility service agreement. Uh, additionally, there's a noise mitigation plan requirement that is uh is part of that plan development zoning case. And again, that's a a plan that addresses those concerns for for noise uh that that we hear commonly with data centers and it provides for post construction testing and remedies if that noise becomes a nuisance. Uh there are requirements for traffic impact impact analysis. uh specifically as we we look at the construction. There's a heavy traffic during construction time frame. Uh the PD also addressed right away for future roadways and landscaping and screening associated with the development. Moving forward then in

October you saw that tax abatement uh agreement come forward and that agreement is the in this case is the agreement that locks in the investment commitment and job commitment in exchange for an abatement of a portion of taxes followed by a development agreement in November that addresses again those rideaway alignments for for future projects in the area. It addressed uh some property that is available for expansion of our landfill. Um it also addresses how that project moves forward from a a phased permitting perspective and other processes and procedures that will provide for orderly development of the property. Following that, the plat come came in. It was approved on December 31st. Uh just a a note there that that platt is one of of many compliance check standpoints uh that we have as a city and that's kind of the first flush for how will drainage work, how will the utilities work, how will uh subdivision standards, development standards, other standards be built. So there's a compliance check at the plat stage uh to make sure that it is compliant with regulations and zoning ordinances. A building permit has been submitted for this project. It is not not yet approved, but has been submitted and is in review. And that again provides another compliance check standpoint where we compare to building codes. We look at engineering design standards, specifications, and uh again making sure that utilities that are needed are in place. Uh we make sure that any storm water drainage components are taken care of. So we we compare up pre-development conditions and post-development conditions and make sure that they've accounted for those properly uh as well as fire code and and any other development standards that we have as a as a city. So what you have tonight before you is a utility services agreement which we'll we'll talk about a

little bit more. That's an agreement that is to define the level of service for water and wastewater utilities. Those are the utilities that the city of Temple will will provide to uh to that development. Uh it's appropriate for those large scale developments that um that have um could have a non-standard usage, a non-standard water wastewater usage. It's pretty typical for industrial projects to see a u a utility service agreement. And what we really intend to do with uh with that utility service agreement is make sure that we've properly accounted for the the volume and the characteristics of water and wastewater demands and make sure that those are well understood, well defined. We know what to expect as a city. The developer knows what to expect uh from a utility delivery standpoint. And what we hope to prevent against there is for any kind of an unplanned extreme growth in that utility demand. So in a case if somebody came in and said, "I need I need a thousand gallons of water and that's it." And then they really needed significantly more water. We have to be able to make sure that we've we've properly defined what that water usage is. And that this document will allow you to uh to make sure that we're clear on all grounds. uh it ensures sustainability of that utility service for

one question. I don't think that you're going to cover it. Um I learned this today in a meeting is they also if um if the project were to come along and say that they wanted to um expand and uh wanted to use you know another needed another large amount of water that that's not something they could just do unilaterally and the city of Temple would have to provide that. Correct. that would then require another wastewater agreement. Correct. With all the parameters that you're talking about now. So, this protects us now, also protects in the future uh for any sort of future expansion.

Correct. That that's absolutely right. This is a a definition of what the project is and then what the the need is for that particular project. any future growth that is not already accounted for in this agreement would then come back before this board for another modification to this agreement.

So set another way because this is a really important point. The reason that um that we propose as a condition and require a utility services agreement for an industrial project is to set a maximum amount of water and wastewater that we will provide and accept from the company. So they cannot exceed that without your approval. It sets a maximum and it protects our utility from um from uh a uh industry using more water than we are able to provide.

I look at the slide and I probably had a little bit of an engineering mindset on this. I said it establishes the volume and character level of service which is much much more elegant elegantly said by establishing that that ceiling right we're we're making sure there's a limit not only to the volume but also to what the makeup is of the discharge in their wastewater stream. So there there are things that we we have to monitor and we want to make sure we take care of and we don't want any unexpected uh discharge there as well. Uh, additionally another another critical piece here is it also establishes the the infrastructure that's necessary to serve that development. So if there if the infrastructure is already in place, then we'll identify that infrastructure is already being in place. If there are any improvements to the system that need to be made, those would be identified. And along with identifying that improvement, we also would then identify the responsible party for paying for those improvements. When we talk specific getting into more specifics of the terms that are in this particular agreement, I want to point out early on you see a term here that that I have. It's single family equivalent. So that that number is uh based upon the the equivalent usage of a typical single family home. So that's uh 3.3 people live in the home. It's about 150 gallons per person per day. So your average average home uses around 495 gallons per day just as a baseline. And what you see in the the parenthesis there that gives you a reference so that you know uh that usage equates to about uh that number of homes. So under under this particular agreement the utility request that was made is for it and for water it's a three-part request. The first piece is what we call initial

charging water. uh this this particular data center uses what's called a closed closed loop cooling system. Uh meaning that they're their intent is to charge the cooling system one time with a volume of water. That volume of water is then used for a period of about 10 years. It it's uh could be longer, could be just shortly a little bit shorter, but 10 years is about the the ground that we expect there. Um and it will continue to use that same two million gallons of water in this case for a period of 10 years. Uh so when you see the 1.1 single family equivalent next to that volume of water over that same period of of 10 years, that's how much 1.1 homes would use over that same time period. The domestic water consumption is the the next component and that is uh think of the the employees that are going to be there. they're going to need uh kitchens, office space, uh restrooms, facilities. So the the typical consumption of the facility then uh irrigation as well is another concern for for those grounds. Uh the the expected consumption for the the domestic water usage is 4,000 gallons per day. Uh again, putting that into reference, it's a little over eight single family equivalents um for the domestic water usage. The last piece is uh fire suppression. And this one is not a need that you hope to have to use. It's not a need that you uh you expect to have to use, but it is a need that we need to account for uh to to provide the fire suppression safety requirements for this site. The the developers elected to install an on-site tank system. So essentially, they'll have that volume of water that that could be needed in the instance there were a fire there to put it out. uh the the requirement here is

less of a a volume requirement and it is more of a flow rate environment requirement. So essentially we're we're committing to having a flow of 500 gallons per minute which is is uh easily handled by our system. uh and and that flow when you compare to what comes out of a standard fire hydrant uh if a a pumper truck is hooked up to it is actually a little bit lower in this case than if they had no no fire storage water on site. So when you take the sum of all of those those water requirements uh in the agreement that's referred to as sum of potable water supply and uh we the that is considered to be continuous and adequate. So that is what what places that ceiling on the water usage. And when you look at the sum of that total again 9.2 single family equivalent homes uh for water usage for this particular site on 554 acres.

So again the maximum amount of water that the data center can use on a daily basis is 4,000 gallons. They are not allowed to use any more than that on a daily basis. They can take an initial charge of two of up to two million gallons or approximately two million gallons, but they have to work with us on timing of that so that we we time that in a at a time when um the system is um best suited to handle that. They'll do that over the course of several days. So, it's not all at one time. And just council will recall, but um our typical kind of peak summer usage is around uh citywide is around 36 million gallons a day. But on a day like um today, you know, that's probably closer to 16 or 18 million gallons. So, timing that to a a time when there's lower use of water throughout the the rest of the system um helps us easily accomplish that 2 million gallons. And that is part of the requirement in the agreement as well is that they can't take that unilaterally and at any given time. They have to work with us and take that over a period that works best for the system as well. Moving into to wastewater capacity commitments. These mirror a little bit uh what you see in the the uh water capacities. Again, we're our our typical day we're going to expect to see somewhere shy of 4,000 gallons per day of a discharge that does go to our Doer Farms wastewater treatment plant. Uh and again, that is for those daily operations of the facility. uh and that's what we're calling the domestic wastewater component. When we look at the industrial wastewater component, we know that they have a a fill of that initial uh that initial charge for their cooling system. At some point, that system has to be flushed and it has to has to be refilled. So when when uh that

particular instance rolls around, what we what we have here is uh a conditioned acceptance. So when they're ready to to make that discharge and change out the cooling water, uh they would go through a standard application through our industrial pre-treatment program and that discharge water would be tested. We would look at the makeup of that discharge water. If uh if we're able both volutrically and characteristically to accept that water, then we would allow for it to be discharged to the wastewater treatment plant. Uh if if for some reason we find something that is a makeup, a chemical makeup or uh another uh issue with that wastewater component, then uh the applicant has agreed to use a third party waste hauler to dispose of that that particular portion of the wastewater. And again, that's the industrial wastewater component. So the the two of those together make up your uh wastewater capacity commitment. A couple of other um items that are included in that. Uh the project does require for the extension of a public weight a public water line. That's a 12-in line that would be extended uh within the rightway of Bob White Road. Uh that that line is to be extended at the cost of the developer. Upon completion of of that construction, the developer would then dedicate that line to the city of Temple for ownership and and maintenance. Um, it does allow that if there's any unforeseen circumstances, we don't expect to have anything that would need a rideway acquisition now, but uh it does allow that the city may uh aid in that rideway acquisition at the developer's expense if if an issue should arise. The project will take wastewater service through a private lift station and private force main. Uh that wastewater

extension uh would also be within the Bob White road uh alignment. And this agreement would would allow for a street use license for a private utility located within a public street. Um which is not typical. But the alternative here was that to to have a public wastewater line extension required an excessively deep uh cut which became a maintenance problem for the city. So we elected that uh it it works out better if there's a privatelyowned wastewater force main that supplies that service. Uh the developer does agree within this agreement to pay for standard fees for connections and rates of service that are adopted by city council. The only exception that is applied in there is that it says they will not pay impact fees. However, we do not have impact fees. So, it's essentially waving a fee that does not exist. City staff is recommending approval of this item and I would be happy to go into any more detail that you you may have that I may have missed, mayor, or if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer those at this time.

Thank you, council. Anything for David? Seems like the the um the main concerns regarding data centers in in my mind is three things. It's mostly operational. Um it's the water. We've talked about that. It's electric. These uh these data centers um we all know that they use a lot of electricity. Um it is also uh a few things that need to be pointed out when it comes to electricity. The state of Texas is responsible through Urkott for getting um enough electric enough power through the lines to these facilities uh to operate. So um the state will not allow um a data center like this to uh become operational without having the infrastructure and the power supplied to the site. So I've heard I I've I've seen some concerns I've heard some concerns that well so you've got this big data center they're going to you know plug into the grid so to speak and they're going to they're going to take our power. Um couple of things about this. Number one is is again it's it's the responsibility of UROT to get power to the site. But number two for this project specifically um the infrastructure is already in place. The infrastructure came uh into place for this particular facility um with another project that they did. They went through the application process. Uh did the study. Ultimately allocated enough um enough power for a prior project to uh to be able to uh to

power to be enough power basically to take on this project. Also that first project went away. Now they are basically tapping into their allocation of power um that's been in place three or four years at least. So um the power is not an issue. One thing that's great about power, you know, unlike water, water is a is a finite resource. Power can be made. And so the uh the state of Texas um is uh is required to not actually not required. These companies put an application and uh pay a fee to get in line for approval for a certain amount of power that then is generated and brought to the side. Um the third thing is around noise and I don't I don't know that you have anything in this particular presentation regarding noise mitigation. Is that correct?

The the only thing we have there is that when when you approved the plan development for the zoning case, there's a condition that that is on that plan development that says that they will develop a noise mitigation plan. So that noise mitigation plan will come on the the front end during the design period and then those measures would be implemented to to prevent nuisance uh in the long term before they are issued a CO uh after after construction is occurred before a certificate of occupancy is issued there will be a post construction measure that ensures that they can achieve compliance with those noise mitigation standards that were designed by an acoustical engineer. Uh and then beyond uh the the post construction check, we have what's called a a reasonable person test essentially and uh in it as well that provides that if a reasonable person is u deems it to be a nuisance, there are measures by which we can go back and enforce and require additional mitigation of of that noise. So that's that's all part of the condition that was approved with the plan development zoning uh back in September

as well as requiring them to use all commercially uh reasonable approaches to minimize noise as well. And then ultimately if those levels are not achieved, I don't know why they wouldn't be, but if they are not achieved, will that um data center be allowed to operate anyway?

No, they they would they have a period to come into compliance and they would need to come into compliance or uh face potential shutdown. There's I've also seen concerns regarding uh inclement weather uh wintertorm Yuri, you know, kind of worst case scenario. What happens in that situation? Who gets the electricity first? That's a state level.

That's that's a state policy that that I don't have knowledge of. So, um I know that whenever we were going through wintertorm Yuri, social media platforms were still operating. Why is that? I'm sorry. We we do just for for your reference, there are some there's a representative from Rowan here tonight as well. If there's any specific power related questions that I you know, some of these questions are are beyond my uh field of expertise. Yep. So, don't want to speculate, man. I don't want to speculate.

Well, I'm sorry. And I'm probably uh So, I'm I'm I have had a meeting today with the Rowan rep and um and I asked those questions and many of us um many people have a uh on-site generator at home and whenever power is lost, that generator kicks on until power comes back on. these facilities are um uh they they have on-site generators. So there I have heard some concern about if we lose if if the community loses power then when power comes back up who gets that? It's not a matter of who gets that. They have on-site power generation that they will continue to be able to operate um without taking anything from the community so to speak. So there's not going to be a triage system based upon, you know, who gets the power when based upon how quote unquote important they are to the community. They'll have on-site generation and then whenever power is restored to the point that that everyone is able to get back on the grid, then they will get back on the grid. There there's not a hierarchy of electricity availability.

I'm sorry. I was trying to be cute with my trying to get you there.

I see what you were doing now. I follow you now. Um I I do think just a a note, Mayor, um from a water perspective specifically, uh there are data centers that use large amounts of water and there are data centers that use small amounts of water. And uh what I appreciate as a staff member is the direction that council has given us to be good stewards of our of our water resource. And uh we we have talked about agreements for extensively with the company. We we make sure that we vet uh that the numbers that they give us are what the the true need is. We don't we don't try to put a lot of fluff into those numbers. We don't try to uh make sure that we can set a high ceiling that's easy to achieve. uh per your your direction as a council, as a city staff, we we do try to be uh very intentional about making sure that we're we're getting that number right and that we're doing uh a service to the community in the long run and balancing both that economic development project with being a good steward of that resource. Yeah, that has been a requirement of this council um all along and we continue to stand by that and there are ordinances in place that you know it's not just that this council um that's important to this council and you know other councils can can uh you know immediately make changes there there are rules in place that will carry on um across many community leaders. So, is there anything else that you'd like to cover before we open the

public? I'm good.

Okay. All right. We do have another a number of public commenters. So, I'm just going to start on the list. What I always say in these um uh these situations is we want to hear from everybody. So, we have four pages of folks that have signed up and we we want to hear from everyone. If someone gets up there and they they steal your thunder, they take every point that you wanted to cover, uh, feel free to let me know that you don't want to speak or feel free to say, "Nope, I'm going to say everything that God just said. I'm going to say it again and again and again." That is fine. We want to hear from everybody. But again, um, there's 20ome folks here. So, what I like to do in these to kind of keep things moving is you do have three minutes. Um, keep to that three minutes best you can. I'll let you finish your thought up to about three and a half or four minutes. Then I'll cut you off. Okay? So, keep it around three minutes or so. And then what I also like to do so we don't have to watch somebody walk across the room is I put one one up to bat and then uh one on deck. Okay? So, I'll call a couple people at a time and then hopefully we can kind of keep things moving. Okay? But again, don't feel rushed. Don't think that, you know, that that we're doing anything other than wanting to be here and listen to the community. Okay? So, uh, up to bat. Lynn Thomas, you're up on deck. Nell Renley. So, I'd ask Neil, you're close, but if you're on deck, just go ahead and while the first while the Pearson's speaking, just go ahead and come on up and and uh get ready. Miss Thomas.

Hi. Good evening. I'm Lynn Thomas. I've been a resident in Temple for well, probably now over 20 years. Uh, I'm in I'm here in support of a temporary injunction on the data center expansion until independent audits can verify the infrastructure capacity and the environmental safety. Water usage must be public and verified and I haven't heard anything tonight about how what kind of oversight we're going to have. You said they can only use so much water. They can't go over that without an approval from you. What are we doing on oversight to make sure that they maintain what they're supposed to be doing? We need actual daily withdrawal numbers, uh, peak summer usage projections, and long-term aquifier studies. The other side to the coin that we've talked about tonight here is the electrical grid. The electrical grid impact and subsequent costs to the rateayers must be made transparent. Electrical bills will go up and is disingenuous to say otherwise. Seniors and lowincome residents of this community are going to suffer the impacts of that first before anybody else will. Okay. the cost for the data center will be passed on to the rateayers. I don't understand how it could we can assume otherwise. And I highly encourage the council to read the study from the University of Michigan Ford uh science and technology and public policy study on what happens to towns when data centers come to town. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Carol Titus would be after Miss Brinley.

I'm Neil Brinley, born, raised, and reside in Temple, Texas. Um, first my condolences to Councilman Pilington and the Casper family. I wish he could be here tonight. Uh, growing up in Temple, we were blessed to be under the leadership of uh, city manager HK Dodging, who our loop is named for. Uh we had companies like American Desk, Ralph Wilson Arts, er Carpenter, CocaCola, Dr. Pepper, Bandy Laboratories, Santa Fe and MKT Railroad, just to name a few. And more recently, MLAN company and PDI, which employed thousands of people and have provided jobs and income for untold number of families in Temple and Bell County. However, you are now seeking to attract companies that develop and lease data centers with 40 perhaps employees who may not even work on site in Temple. That's not required. That does not add much to the tax base or the quality of life in Temple. Nor does it reflect the values of the people who have made Temple a great place to live and work and grow a family. Aside from the millions of dollars in tax abatements you want to give Australiabased Rowan digital infrastructure, you have not provided an environmental impact study report on the noise, pollution or potential biohazards from the exorbitant number of diesel tanks planned for the backup generators in case we have another freeze and the grid might potentially go down. In addition, the majority of Texas is currently in drought stage and Lake Belton is receding due to the fact that we have had only one day of measurable rainfall in February of 2026.

Yet, you are asking Temple residents to provide huge amounts of water and electricity to run the data center Rowan plans to lease to a third party. And finally, I want to point out that the first project that you granted Rowan has already been scrapped and I'm told that building will be repurposed as a a warehouse. How much revenue will that debacle provide the city? I'm asking that this project and any other like it be paused until council can provide the citizens and taxpayers of Temple the answers we deserve. I stand opposed, as you know, to all data center projects in my hometown, Temple, Texas. I want to continue to love where I live. Thank you.

Thank you, M. Carol Titus. Carol, leave. All right. Next up, we have uh Margie Frasier. Yes, ma'am. It's good to see you. We haven't seen you in a while. So, uh, Margie Frasier and then, uh, is it Delia Torino? You'll be right after Miss Frasier.

Margie Frasier. He knows me well. I'm actually going to speak about it because we are affected by the noise. And I have never had ringing in my ears till the first year after I moved to Temple and live out where I hear a noise that sounds like a sonic boom multiple times a day at times. And I understand that it's probably four miles from where we live, but sound travels and it travels where y'all don't seem to realize that when the spaces get more open, it travels better. And it's I I just know that I'm dealing with tonitis ever since. And I have a ring in my ear all the time and I'm losing my hearing. I'm 73. I've never had a hearing problem and I drove a school bus for 17 years and I didn't affect my hearing. But this thing is affecting my hearing. And so there's no how do they stop that? It's not just that. It's the water uses. They look at the millions of gallons and they're saying, "Oh, 1.1 family units and so forth." But you're talking how many millions really units you're actually talking about, let alone the electricity and the grid and the whole bit. I've been without electricity. We got a generator and yeah, that thing's loud, but we park it away from the house so that it doesn't affect the noise level in our house. The electricity from the electrician runs more than adequately to the to the panel so that we have electricity. I've been with that electricity for a week and I know that y'all weren't affected like that out here that I know of. Maybe

you were. I hear people three, four days in town even. That's pretty bad. So, y'all need to consider who is this going to affect. And who's it going to affect? You're talking 10 years. And 10 years is nothing. It is nothing nowadays. What about your children? Y'all got children, grandchildren. I got great grandchildren even. and they live right here in Temple. How's that affecting them? I noticed that kids don't seem There's just just things that bother me a lot. And a lot of it has to do with what we allow and think about what we're allowing. Really, please think about what we're allowing. I don't approve from everything I've heard about data centers and what goes on now. If they won't allow it in Australia and this company is from Australia, Australia won't allow it. Why are we allowing it?

Thank you, Mark. You're welcome. Up next will be is it uh Sylvia Crumb? Maybe. Sylvia. S. Sylvia Crumb. Looks like Sylvia. So if you think if you signed up and later on I'll call your name that may be you. So um Robert Fleming will be next. Go ahead.

Hi my name is Delia Trevinho and I was born and raised here in Temple and I'm here to request that y'all put an injunction on this data center coming into our city. I have eight acres of land here and it's definitely going to affect everything everything that's happening right now. You know, you say that there's not going to be an impact that this the state is is um is in charge of the electric and it's not going to affect us. I'm sorry, but my electric bill tells me something completely different and it's consistently gone up and up year after year. Take the time to be more transparent. Stop glossing over these these things that it seems trivial to you, but to us it's it's going to affect our children and our grandchildren. It's affecting us now. And I'm just asking that you take the time to be more transparent. Show us the show us show us everything. You know, there's been some requests for um information that hasn't been released to the public. We'd like to see that. Um the water issue, you know, you you talk about this closed loop. Where's the data on that? We'd love to see some actual environmental studies done that's not done by Rowan or by somebody that gains out of this what's coming into our city. It needs to be somebody independent, somebody else. Um, I'm asking that this council issue an injunction. If a data center downsizes or relocates before infrastructure costs are recovered, this community will be left with those costs. And I I don't think enough people know. We didn't know. I mean, until we had somebody that spoke up about it, we didn't know. You know, Cedar Creek Road, that's that's my property right there. Did I know there

was a a street coming through there? I wasn't advised of that. I never received a letter. It's it's it's more transparency that we're requesting. Um we're your neighbors. Please just do the right thing and and stop this. Thank you. Stacey, you'll be after Mr. Fleming. Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor, it's my first time here to be at city coun city council meeting. I've enjoyed it. I like your style. Thank you. Thank you. Um not everybody does, but that's okay.

I'm um vice president of Bell County Farm Bureau. Yes, sir. Of course, agriculture doesn't really exactly mix with development, but here I am, and I've enjoyed it. Um what I've what I've understood I was at the Bell County um water symposium and I understood that ASR water transfer was in the discussion for for this data center and our board and numerous other land owners across the across Bell County are really concerned especi especially the ones that are on underground water systems such as Little Elm Valley that I'm a member of Winville Bell Falls Water Supply Corporation, Central Texas Water Supply, and Sego Durango. um they're very close to this AR ASR um transfer station that that is it is planned to go in and and and I'm really really concerned about our technology to determine whether it's safe enough to mix this waste water into our underground water that could possibly travel for hundreds of miles underneath the ground and contaminate these systems and others around. I I I really I really really really have problems believing our technology that there's a cabin down there so big and it'll hold all this water and they'll pump the the clean waste water into the ground and pull it out when it's needed and not contaminate Little Elm Valley which is just the their water well which is in the lower Trinity is less than five miles away. So, what if what if it does contaminate our water supply? I know it's supposed to be clean. I get that. But there is such thing as mechanical failure and human failure. I know it's going to be

monitored very carefully, but it there are such things and there are errors. That that's that's what bothers me. I I am proposing a wetlands for the environment. let it percolate into the land naturally for the birds, the bees, the animals, and things like that, and they can deposit it and pull it out naturally. That young lady that gave this prayer here, she said it all. She said everything about what this meeting is about. And we're all talking about it. We're all concerned. And and I really I really urge y'all to consider a moratorum on on on this type of on this type of um this ASR water transfer. I'm going to thank y'all. Appreciate it.

The um ASR system is fascinating and if you if you enjoy that and if you're that concerned about it, you owe it to yourself to to really learn about it. It's a it's an amazing um process and I think that you would frankly get a lot out of that and I think you would become a proponent of it. Um when I know further understanding it's it it's amazing. So uh take your time and um and we can we can help get some get some info to you. Thank you sir.

Yep. You'll enjoy it. I do also just want to clarify that this project is not proposed to be served by groundwater or um or any kind of ASR facility though it is near one uh that's being studied. The uh utility services agreement that you're considering tonight is only based on um surface water um and and not uh any groundwater resources. Thank you. I I sometimes forget those details of what what we're actually talking about. Right. So it's it's not groundwater. We are we are symposium an ASR water project was in consideration.

That is true. That is true. I'm just I'm just stating that this agreement this company is not proposed to be served by groundwater and is really not linked to the ASR. We are studying whether an ASR project is is a possibility, but this utility agreement is only related to surface water um for this particular company. We are we are years away from an operating ASR injection. Well, thank you, sir. You bet. Thank you. Thank you, Bren, for clarifying. It's still an important topic. It's just not directly related. No, agree. I'm sorry. Again, I sometimes we get caught up in what's being said without remembering the relevance.

On deck is Gloria Bell. Is Gloria still here? All right. Alexander Santiago. Yeah, Miss Klein, go ahead.

Okay. Uh, I kind of hacked up my comments after that, uh, presentation, so bear with me if I stumble, but I'm a lifetime lifelong Texan and I've been in Temple since 96. Uh, I've always followed topics related to water resources and environmental safeguarding. And um the presentation did answer uh some of the questions, but I would like before the agreement is finalized, I would love to be able to have the public actually read the agreement um and verify where the flushed water is discharged to. I did listen to some expert testimony um at a Michigan House of Representatives uh from an industrial hygienist um that said that the bioides, anti-corrosion agents, etc. cause it to not be able to be fully cleaned, which means that it may have to be dumped off somewhere. Um, so that's problematic, but mainly I know they made it sound very palatable as, oh, it's only two million gallons. Um, but KTXS reported last week that Texas is projected to become the largest data center market on Earth. And here's some of the ramifications that we've seen in other states. Mororrow County, Oregon, has linked their water use water crisis to the data their data center expansion. Newton County, Oregon has many people whose wells are no longer hitting, which is something the other gentleman kind of referred to. Um, uh, Granberry residents, a lot of them are having issues issues with vertigo and nausea due to noise. I know the backup power is supposed to be, uh, underground diesel generators, I believe, and those emit 200 to 600 times more nitrogen oxides than natural gas. Um, in 2027, um, AI data centers worldwide are ex

expected to use about 1.7 trillion gallons of water globally. And meanwhile, almost all of Texas is right now in some level of drought. And the UN in January just released a report called global water bankruptcy, living beyond our hydraological means. That means that surface water and aquafer usage has long surpassed uh the ability for it to be replenished through natural rainwater in many areas of the world. And Texas is already progressing down this track. Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, they're all experiencing significant subsidance or sinking due to high levels of groundwater extraction. And many Texas counties are right now in extreme water shortage situations. Um, I know I'm late to this topic here on this data center, but honestly, the environmental law decimation going on nationally over the last year has me distracted locally. But I mean, we just got to, it's not just a data center. We've got to plan out our water. Um, we're going to get ourselves to a point that we can't recover from. We don't inherit this earth from our ancestors. We borrow it from our great grandkids. THANK YOU. WAYNE TARA.

MR. SANTIAGO.

Good evening. My name is Alexander Santiago and I'm a lifelong citizen of Temple, Texas. Um, born and raised here. Um, I was an Eagle Scout from First Nice Troop 101. I am a Templite through and through and it's a pleasure to be before you guys today. Um, that being said, I have many, many concerns about this data center. Um, I feel that there needs to be an injunction um, regarding it. Um, and before we before anything gets done with it, so to speak. Um, that way we can have the research and the knowhow and the data, ironic data, um, to to understand the environmental impact that'll have on our land, our resources, and the community around us. This data center I believe in my personal opinion will be a net negative because we do not have all the data of the just the the breadth of the impact that it'll have on all of our resources. We do not have currently the infrastructure to support something of this magnitude. And also I feel like there's not enough being talked about like what is the oversight that we're going to have with this? What are the safeguards? We've mentioned that, you know, in the presentation that y'all had, you know, different statistics like, oh, we're going to cap it um at, I think, was it 4,000 gallons um a day or whatnot. What is the system of oversight that we're going to have in in those safeguards? Like we need I need data again data to to back that up and understand that. And I think that's something that again was something that was mentioned earlier, transparency. We need insight into that background. Um, yeah, I I would I think we just need a little bit more research before we get into this. And so that's all I got.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Sarah Royer.

Okay. Excuse me. My name is Wayne Tyrock and I appreciate the council listening to what I have to say and the people that are here to listen and hopefully I can the whether it was a question or answer or something you had hopefully I can clarify that um there there's not enough study and I haven't heard this um what I've got to say nothing was mentioned tonight. They say they will use two million um gallons of one-time water charging the system. Uh I've been in a data center. I know I've worked in a plant that cools these. Uh I find that very wrong. They say they will last for 10 years. No, there's going to have to be a makeup. These lines will break. I know we've had them. Them lines will break. How much they will need, I don't know. To make up. It's uh I I wish and I hope y'all enforcement put makeup systems in so you would know how many gallons are being made up. Also, there's a uh they say uh they need only 4,000 gallons per day. That's not true. Uh these cooling systems, it's going to be a chill water. I'm pretty darn sure because that's what we run, chill water. Um, so, you know, to run a plant of this size and employees, washing hands, uh, you know, restrooms, that's not going to be enough water. Um, and I'm worried about the discharge of the quality. And, uh, also on these chill water systems, nothing was said tonight about they're going to have to have chemicals in them. They have to be treated or they'll ruin the lines. Um, we use chemicals and also nothing else was said. We have to put glycol in these lines to keep them from freezing.

They could freeze and I've seen them drop into the 30s. Um, so nothing was said about that. For many people, if y'all don't know what glycol is, basically it's an anifreeze. And this is gonna when you're going to have leaks discharge and everybody knows what happens to anifreeze if an animal wildlife or anything uh licks just as much much as licks on it. It'll kill him. So I'm very worried about it. And u I appreciate what Robert Fleming brought up and uh what's going to happen. I ran for a commissioner and I I watch these solar farms. They say they're bonds. I don't hear anything about this. A bond. What if they go bankrupt? Who's going to clean it up? And uh like I made the comment when I was speaking to the crowds as I ran for commissioner, these bonds that these solar farm h have, it's an empty airbag. There's no money in them. And why don't we have a bonds for this data center with money in it so if they go bankrupt? So I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Tyra. Joe, you'll be up.

Hey.

Hello, city council mayor. I'm uh Sarah Royer from Temple, Texas, and I'm here today because I'm worried. I think you guys should be, too. Um I'm asking you to hit the pause button right now. We're just hitting a pause button um on all data cons uh center construction and all it being turned on, anything happening until we have an audit on our water and our power grid. A lot has changed since these companies have come into town in 2021. Back then, we didn't have the information we have now. Um, we've seen what's happened in other towns with the same exact technology. I've heard and read the representatives from Rowan and Meta and they said these closed loop systems don't need any extra water, but to be blunt, that's a lie. We know these facilities only mitigate 70 to 80% of the needs, which are about 5 million gallons a day on average. Um, this facility in particular is using so many 500 ton Carrier aircooled chillers that they're going to need over 500,000 gallons on average a day averaged just to keep these closed loop uh cool. And that's only though if we get over 84 degrees. But cool enough, we're over 84 degrees over 200 days of the year. Um, this is not just the amount of it, it's the quality. The water that comes out of these chillers carry anti-corrosives, anti-scaling and bioides. And our local treatment plants are not built to filter out this kind of industrial sledge. And what happens is it gets blown back and if it gets just carried off, it's going to end up back in my in our waterways. That's what's happened in Ohio. If that gets into our aquafer, it's going to hit our drinking waters. It's going to affect everyone with a well, and it's going to hit our farmland. We are literally poisoning our own future. And this is not my opinion. This is someone who studied these exact systems. Um Tammy Clark, a government trained o OSHA EPA, Department of

Transportation professional and an industrial hygiene and occupational emer uh environmental health and safety professional. And she testified on this at the Michigan House Oversight Committee Janu January 28th of this year. the technology for the actual closed loop systems you guys are talking about um is it is it's viable. Microsoft has it and it cost about four times more than they're saying they're putting into our community. So I know they don't have that. Um think about the Brazos Basin Authority report I sent to you last week. It says in 12 to 14 years we're looking at real shortages and we're talking about when you turn on your faucet the water not coming out. And that should have been our wakeup call to start saving our water, not sign up more data centers. And look, even if we try to pump water back from Waco Lake, reverse drill the water from Waco Lake back to our aquifer, which is actually in the Brazos basin report I sent to you. That's one of the solutions in 12 to 12 to 14 years without data centers. If our if our aquifer is already contaminated, that's not going to help anything. I know there's NDAs in place. I know there's been a lot of secrecy, but you were elected to represent us, not them. And we're asking for an emergency injection so we can get a real audit and put safety measures in place before any damage is permanent. Stopping construction just isn't a policy move. It's an act of trust for your constituents. This feels like a real David and Goliath moment right now because we're truly concerned about our water. This isn't something that we decided to do on a Thursday. We're just here to remind you that you guys are David, too. You're part of our city. You're part of You have land here. I mean, I would never want your job, mayor. I think you're an incredible man. I the way you do it with such grace. But we need to stop and just assess it. And

I'm not saying stop it. If the audits come back and wow, they've got $2 billion worth of technology in here that we had no idea about, congratulations. You're on your way. You won't hear from us again. But we need to make that sure that we have the policies um to keep to keep our water clean. Postpone 6H until after we have an open audit, please.

I'm Joe Royer. uh live in district 2. I do want to be clear that I'm here as a private citizen and not as a representative of any of the organizations I work with. Um I have a background in IT. I have actually built and managed data centers. Nothing to this scale of course, but uh I I have uh I've been around a little bit. Um my main concern is that some of Rowan's claims are not consistent with reality. As Sarah alluded, the closed loop systems, cooling systems, and they're saying we pull once and then we don't need water again. That's not how they work. The EESI and the EPA have both confirmed closed loop systems save about 70 to 80% of our water. So that's that puts us still pulling 400 to 500,000 gallons a day. Now, the technology does exist to cool a data center without put any additional water, but it's very expensive. in fact two or three times the cost the total cost of their project which makes me think they're probably not using that technology the power concerns as well uh Texas Senate Bill Six uh you mentioned earlier um Texas Senate Bill Six puts a limit on how much power data centers can use and when they can use it. So if we have an emergency event like the winter storm or if we have an emergency event in the middle of summer, those data centers are required to shut down. This law was just passed in July of last year and any data centers that were connected to the grid before that are grandfathered in. Because Rowan is funneling all of their power through the Mariah data center, which was never fully shut down, they are grandfathered in. And that facility was approved at 500 megawws, which means their generator use is voluntary unless the power actually goes out. The city council, I believe, has the power to enforce SB6 and make sure that it applies to them. This is to put this in perspective, they're they're saying, well, the number

keeps changing. It was 500, then it was 150, then it was 200, then it was 300 megawws. To put this in perspective, our reserve power is 760 megawatts during the summer and 500 megawatts during the winter because winter peaks happen at night and the solar panels don't work for that. and they're asking for 300 megawatts of our 700 or 500 megawatt reserve. Like this is something to consider. Like we can enforce them, we can force them to to abide by SB6, but as it stands right now, they're not required to. So, uh, and I know I know some of you guys, I've had some of you at my dinner table, and I know you're good people, and I know you just want to do the right thing. And so, my hope is that we just haven't had enough information. So, please let's let's do a third party independent audit and make sure that these numbers are what they say they are. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry, Alexis Garcia.

Okay. Um Daniel Winford and behind Daniel will be Britney. Good evening, y'all. I'm Dan Winford. I've lived in Temple since 2020. Um, y'all welcomed me with a nice freeze that gave my dog a stroke and killed me. Uh, I had my mother-in-law staying with me at the time and I got to cook her meals in my fireplace. Um, so thank you for that wonderful welcome. Um, I've had the opportunity to speak with Mayor Davis in the past and I want to talk to everybody real quick. Not not just our city council, but to y'all as well. We don't know enough to be for or against this yet. There is a lot of good opportunity here that comes with significant investment in our city. And Ms. Meyers and Mayor Davis have a really hard job. They have to attract business to our city in the near term while planning for a long-term future. And I'm assuming Miss Myers, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but it was your children that gave the uh the prayer. They did a good job. And the innocence stood out to me because one of the things that he mentioned specifically was the land and the environment and the water. And I don't know if you queued him on that, but that's what we're here talking about tonight. always that you always get nervous when you hand a child a microphone and say, "Please don't say something that embarrasses me."

I promise you, my wife is thinking the same thing right now.

And Mayor Davis, you talked about the importance of story. And we've talked about how grateful we are that projects are planting more than the minimum requirement of trees because we care about the beautifification of our city. And that 10-year vision a decade from now that we're leaving to Tory and Preston, we can't afford to sacrifice that for money. We can't afford we we can't buy fresh drinking water with $10 million. We can put penalties in place for them. And I don't want to sound like the what I am, but I will tell you that the man from Rowan's supposedly here, but I don't see him in any branded gear. I haven't seen him stand up to speak because they they know we need more data here to hear that story about how this project aligns with the vision that y'all have set out for Temple because it's a beautiful vision. We've got farmers in here. We've got families that have been here for 200 years. We have to protect that because the clean drinking water is a limited resource. And if I did a bad thing, I asked AI the difference between a closed system and an evaporative closed circuit system. Um, and so I probably used about 4,000 gallons of water just doing that search, but they're very different answers. And a an evaporative system will greatly surpass the replenishment of the water cycle. And I I think there's a happy medium here where we ask them to commit to doing what is right by us. I mean, the guy could have stood up and said, "Hey, I'll pay for salmons." if he

the fact of the matter is Rowan is a private company at the end of the day and they aren't going to care as much about Temple as y'all do. And Mayor Davis, you asked all the right questions earlier and I appreciate that.

Thank you, Mr. Winford. Uh Robin Peoples. Robin, you're on deck.

Hi, I'm Britney Winford. Um, I am not just for the record concerned when he ends up with a microphone. Um, anyway, I I came up here I was going to say a lot of the same things that everybody else already said. A couple of things that I don't think um I've heard anybody talk about is obviously we're at I think Sarah said over 200 days a year of over the 84 degrees that you know before they're going to start needing to use extra water. It's only going to get worse. We all know it gets hotter and hotter every single year, more days of the year, we're going to need more water. Um, so that 4,000 gallons a day or whatever it is that that they're going to be using for kitchens and stuff like that. And then whatever might evaporate extra, that's just going to get over 10 years. It's going to increase and it's going to increase and it's going to increase. And so we need a pause, like Sarah said, on all of this and study the long-term effects of all of it. How much water is actually going to be used? how much water is going to be used 10 years from now versus, you know, when it gets up and running to start with. Um, another thing, uh, you mentioned earlier that the state is in charge of making any grid updates that need to be done or improvements that need to be done in order to be able to provide the electricity for this. How do we know that what the state's going to decide for us is not going to increase our rates, is not going to increase the the burden that we have as far as paying for our electricity. So, the a study on something like that or at least somebody talking to somebody and finding out what's involved in that monetarily and how that's going to affect us as citizens is something that would be really helpful to know ahead of time. Um, you know, my son's back there. He's almost nine years old. We love being here and I just don't I don't want data centers that are even, you know, AI is having a hard time even being profitable at this point. So, is it worth 40 jobs

for a industry that's not even profitable at this point? So, that's really all I had to say.

Hi. Um, thank you for the opportunity to speak. I'm going to read so that I don't black out and forget what I was saying. Um, my name is Robin and I live just a few blocks away in Jackson Park neighborhood. Um, I appreciate and listened carefully to the presentation. I'm still deeply concerned about water use, energy demands, and air quality issues, uh, especially with the on-site power generation that was talked about. Um, the proposed data center is supposed to bring these things to Temple, Texas, where those issues are already things we're grappling with. So, I echo calls for a pause to this project for more thorough and public environmental review. A 300 megawatt facility is supposed to consume about the same amount of electricity as conservatively 120,000 households. If we're meant to trust Urkott to protect Texans, my concerns have deepened further. Before we make major investments, we need regulations designed to keep us safe and healthy. Our regulatory requirements have not yet caught up with the unique demands of massive data centers and companies are never going to regulate themselves. Um, with the growth that Temple is experiencing and the resource demands that accompany it, it seems extremely irresponsible to sign on for such a massive non-essential non-comm communitybuilding resource loss. The alleged economic uh incentives benefit very few and the negative externalities hurt us all. Thank you.

Thank you. All right, that's everybody. There was a lot there. Um, there you go. Come on.

So, I also live a couple blocks from here. I'm I'm a born and raised Texan. My family goes back to Texas in the 1800s. um German immigrants. Jenna, uh I'm a nurse. I'm a nurse practitioner student. I have served this community for a decade taking care of sick people here. And from what I've seen from Granberry, I'm very concerned about the noise. I just have to say I want to we have zero research on the noise coming from these plants. There are different types of noise. There's high frequency, low frequency. Then you have to think about wildlife. I like the birds in my community. And then you have to think about property values because I have my first house. I love it. I bought it for 84,000 in 2020 with a 3% interest rate. I've almost paid it off. Okay. But it is worth 200,000 now. And if this comes in, what is it going to be worth then? If we're surrounded by data centers, we're already a small town. We haven't grown yet. Then you add a bunch of data centers and no one's going to want to live here. And so then we have no wildlife, no property values, which is most people's, you know, investment here. Um, and then you talk about increasing utilities and most of the people I live around are poor. And that's the community I've served. And I know that they do not have much give to increase utility prices or lower their property values. And the noise scares me because we have heard about cardiac events. We've heard about everything. Tonitis you're talking about no sleep which is torture the mental health aspects we can't afford that here we have very little mental health resources here as it is not enough at all so that's all I wanted to say

very good thank YOU

this this is always challenging um and I know that that many many folks feel like this is this is new and um if it if it wasn't that you should have heard about it by now, you know, etc., etc. This is not new. Um this is something our first data center uh came through in 18 or 19. They're operational now. Um this data center uh we've been talking to them, this developer, we've been talking to them for two or three years. um this is not new information and I know and if it feels new and if you spend a lot of time on the internet um reading about you know worst case scenarios then um then there can be a a cause for concern. I as the mayor, this council staff, etc. We have been kneede, neck deep in this stuff for years. And um so whenever we talk about the the water that that we part of what we're doing tonight is setting a utility services agreement and the utility services agreement, Mr. Olsen um spelled those out. 2 million gallon charge. Sarah, I don't understand why you shake your head. And I only say that because that contractually that's what they get. It's in the contract.

4,000 4,000 gallons a day for regular operations, flushing, you know, etc. Um, so these requirements are in the contract. Say, well, we don't know what they're going to discharge. David said when we monitor and test the discharge that happens again it's in the contract the um e everything that we that David presented and then even after David presented there were many many concerns about the things that David presented as if that were not true well it's in the contract the noise mitigation it's in the contract We talked about setbacks from the corner of the building to the property line and how much noise can be at the property line and it will be engineered to meet a certain amount and then whenever the uh project is actually built, it will be tested to to see if the test the final results actually meet the engineering amount. And ultimately if they don't then they have a certain amount of time they have before they to mitigate those concerns and then they shut down everything that is that we know from um from the original contract with meta to this one. We've we have learned we understand um what uh what some of the pitfalls may be and frankly technology has changed so much that um it you know when whenever we got our first data center project they were uh they were going to have access to a lot of water and now we're talking about

one household a year of water to cool their systems. I've seen uh I've been to manufacturing plant where these servers are actually built. They every one of them have a tiny little radiator in them just like our cars but you know obviously much smaller but um they they have uh they have the cooling technology that is adaptable to whatever cooling system is actually in the data center. These are multi-billion dollar organizations. And the city, little old city of Temple, somebody mentioned that earlier. These guys are so big in just little old city of Temple. Little old city of Temple has a strong contract, number one. But number two, we have a good developer. There are a ton of developers that do this kind of work. There are less than half a dozen developers at this level that are able to develop an A1 type development. This isn't um we're not guessing at this. They're not guessing at this. They have built many of these before and frankly if they're wrong

they haven't built they they have if they are wrong we have we have contractual then let's we're not we're not doing this we had public comments I've closed public comments

we have the ability to control what happens at the site. They're a good developer. They've worked hand in hand with us all along. And at the end of the day, if they don't comply, we have the ability to turn them off. That's it. We have parameters set out. We have spent hours on this. Again, not new, not new to us. We've spent hours on this and uh we have a good grasp of what's going on. Now, uh, I'll be quiet. So, thank you all for being here. I very much appreciate it. I truly do. And, uh, council, with that, I will, um, entertain a motion on item uh, consent agenda, item H.

Make a motion to approve the utility service agreement. I'll second that. We have a motion by Mayor Pro Tim Walker. We have a second by Council Member Kendall Kirkandall. Council, if you would please cast your vote and let me get to the right screen. Hit your button. So, like I said, we have a uh motion by Mayor Pro Tim Walker. We have a second by council member Kirkindall. Council, please cast your vote. Pop up. And then I

Thisem passes four votes to zero. Uh thank you all for attending. It is 7:40 p.m. and this meeting is adjourned.